How to use a PHP iCalendar generator class export event details using the package ICalendar Import and Export: Import and export events in iCalendar format

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Last Updated		Ratings				Unique User Downloads		Download Rankings
2025-11-06 (8 days ago)		Not yet rated by the users				Total: Not yet counted		Not yet ranked

Version		License		PHP version		Categories
`icalimexport` 1.0.0		MIT/X Consortium ...		8.2		Time and Date, Files and Folders, PHP 8

Description

Author

Stefan Kientzler

This package supports importing and exporting events in iCalendar format.

It provides a class that can create new calendars and add events with details such as the start date, duration, subject, description, event period repetition rule, etc.

The package can save a calendar outputting the calendar definition to the current script output in the iCalendar format specified by RFC-5545: Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar).

The iCalendar format is the first choice when such data needs to be exchanged or synchronized between different platforms, systems, or applications. The clear time zone specifications ensure unambiguous, region-independent data exchange at all times.

The package can also import calendar event definitions from a file in the iCalendar format.

Stefan Kientzler

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Instructions

Please read this document to learn more how to import and export calendar events in iCalendar format using the ICalendar Import and Export package.

Example


<?php



declare(strict_types=1);



include 'autoloader.php';



use SKien\iCal\iCalEvent;

use SKien\iCal\iCalendar;



/**

 * @author Stefanius <[email protected]>

 * @copyright MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details

 */



date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Berlin');



$oICal = new iCalendar('Test');



$oEvent = $oICal->createEvent();

$oEvent->setStart(new DateTime('2025-02-23 14:00'));

$oEvent->setDuration(3600);

$oEvent->setSubject('This is the first Testevent to create');

$oEvent->setDescription("The sample demonstrates, how to create a Event\nwith a multiline description!");

$oEvent->setTransparency(iCalEvent::TRANSP_OPAQUE);

$oEvent->setAlarm('-PT30M');

$oEvent->setRRule('FREQ=WEEKLY;INTERVAL=2;COUNT=10');



$oICal->addItem($oEvent);



$oICal->write();

Details

ICal Import/Export

License PhpUnit coverage

Overview

This package can read and write data in the iCalendar format specified by RFC-5545: Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar)

The iCalendar format is first choice when such data needs to be exchanged or synchronized between different platforms, systems, or applications. The clear time zone specifications ensure unambiguous, region-independent data exchange at all times.

From the four components event, to-do, journal entrie and free/busy information that are defined within this specification, this package supports

Events and
ToDo's

> The code and class structure allows a fairly simple extension with the two additional > components - however, since I do not need them yet, the implementation is (still) > pending; feel free to contribute and create according pull requests ;-)

## Timezone handling

The timezone handling when reading is different from that when creating iCalendar files. This is because the time zones used by iCalendar files do not match the PHP time zones (which are based on the time zone identifiers published in the IANA time zone database).

1. When generating a calendar, the (PHP) timezone that is set when the iCalender

instance is created is generally used. An iCal TIMEZONE component with the same 
name is automatically inserted.

2. When reading a calendar, the timezone definitions contained in the file are taken

into account, and all datetime values ??are saved as UNIX timestamps. Since these
values ??are generally UTC-based, it is up to the processing code to decide which
time zone to use to display and/or process the data.

Recurring items

In addition to the actual definition of the components, the iCalendar specification provides an extremely flexible mechanism with the 'Recurrence Rule' to describe recurring items (events, todo's).

When reading elements that use this mechanism, the calling agent can decide how to handle them:

The appointment series resulting from the 'Recurrence Rule' is resolved and the resulting individual items will be generated, which can then be adopted.
The original item remains unchanged. A list of the resulting dates can be retrieved to process/generate the recurring events in the own code.

Formattet Text in descriptions (HTML)

Import

When reading a iCalendar file, formatted HTML text is recognized if it is either stored in the RFC 5545-compliant ALTREP parameter of the description, or if the widely used custom property X-ALT-DESC is used.

If HTML is passed directly in a description (which is actually intended for plain text), it is automatically moved to the HTML description and a plain text representation is created.

If only a HTML description is passed, a plain text representation is auto-created.

It can be queried whether formatted text is available and both versions can be retrieved separately.

Export

When creating an iCalendar file, the description of an item can be set separately as plain text and as formatted text. If only an HTML description is provided, a plain text version is automatically generated before the item is written to the file.

Additionally, there's the option to automatically generate a rudimentary HTML representation of plain text when no formatted text is available. Besides generating HTML line breaks, this option currently only offers valuable benefits when the plain text contains long, difficult-to-read URLs (... this is often the case for calendar entries that refer to further information on the Internet):

Plain URL's such as

https://www.anydomain.de/some-report/in20%a20%further20%folder/report.php?iew=3&source=external

are converted to real HTML links like:

<a href="https://www.anydomain.de/some-report/in20%a20%further20%folder/report.php?iew=3&source=external">www.anydomain.de</a>

this can result in a much better read- and recognizable display by the reading agent in following way:

> www.anydomain.de

Usage

The usage for reading and writing iCalendar files is demonstrated in the sample code files

ImportSelect.php
ImportTest.php
ExportTest.php

that are part of the package and can be found in the root directory.

Files (106)

File	Role	Description
`demodata` (13 files)
`doc` (1 file)
`SKien` (2 directories)
`Vendor` (2 directories)
`autoloader.php`	Aux.	Configuration script
`ExportTest.php`	Example	Example script
`githubwiki.xml`	Data	Auxiliary data
`ImportSelect.php`	Aux.	Auxiliary script
`ImportTest.php`	Example	Example script
`junit.html`	Doc.	Documentation
`junit.xsl`	Data	Auxiliary data
`LICENSE`	Lic.	License text
`phpstan.neon`	Data	Auxiliary data
`phpunit.xml`	Data	Auxiliary data
`phpunitbadge`	Data	Auxiliary data
`PhpUnitCoverage.svg`	Data	Auxiliary data
`readme.md`	Doc.	Documentation

Files (106)

demodata

File	Role	Description
`Custom1.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`eM-Client-RRule.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`eM-Client.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`Evolution-RRule.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`Evolution.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`GoogleCalendar.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`MS-Outlook-RRule.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`SamsungCalendar.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`SCF-Bundesliga.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`SCF-LigaSpielplan.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`SCF-Sportschau.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TBird-RRule.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TBird.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data

Files (106)

doc

File	Role	Description
`rfc5545.pdf`	Data	Auxiliary data

Files (106)

SKien

File	Role	Description
`iCal` (17 files)
`Test` (1 directory)

Files (106)

SKien

iCal

File	Role	Description
`iCalAlarm.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalAlarmParentInterface.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalAlarmReader.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalComponent.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalendar.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalEvent.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalEventReader.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalHelper.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalReader.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalRecurrenceRule.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalTimezone.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalTimezoneProp.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalTimezoneReader.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalToDo.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalToDoReader.php`	Class	Class source
`Reader.php`	Class	Class source
`Writer.php`	Class	Class source

Files (106)

SKien

Test

File	Role	Description
`iCal` (9 files, 1 directory)

Files (106)

SKien

Test

iCal

File	Role	Description
`testdata` (40 files)
`iCalAlarmTest.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalendarTest.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalEventTest.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalHelperTest.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalRecurrenceRuleTest.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalTimezonePropTest.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalTimezoneTest.php`	Class	Class source
`iCalToDoTest.php`	Class	Class source
`UnitTestLogger.php`	Class	Class source

testdata

File	Role	Description
`Berlin.txt`	Doc.	Documentation
`BerlinFromTimezone.txt`	Doc.	Documentation
`InvalidCases.json`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidEvent1.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidEvent2.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidEvent3.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidEvent4.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidEvent5.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidEvent6.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidToDo1.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidToDo2.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidToDo3.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidToDo4.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidToDo5.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`InvalidToDo6.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`NewYork.txt`	Doc.	Documentation
`NotSupported1.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`NotSupportedCases.json`	Data	Auxiliary data
`RRuleParamError.json`	Data	Auxiliary data
`RRuleTestCases.json`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent1.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent2.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent3.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent4.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent5.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent6.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent7.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent8.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEvent9.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEventRRule.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestEventRRule2.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestToDo1.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestToDo2.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestToDo3.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestToDo4.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestToDo5.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestToDo6.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`TestToDoRRule.ics`	Data	Auxiliary data
`VEventTestCases.json`	Data	Auxiliary data
`VToDoTestCases.json`	Data	Auxiliary data

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File	Role	Description
`Psr` (1 directory)
`Soundasleep` (5 files)

Files (106)

Vendor

Psr

File	Role	Description
`Log` (8 files)

Files (106)

Vendor

Psr

Log

File	Role	Description
`AbstractLogger.php`	Class	Class source
`InvalidArgumentException.php`	Class	Class source
`LoggerAwareInterface.php`	Class	Class source
`LoggerAwareTrait.php`	Class	Class source
`LoggerInterface.php`	Class	Class source
`LoggerTrait.php`	Class	Class source
`LogLevel.php`	Class	Class source
`NullLogger.php`	Class	Class source

Files (106)

Vendor

Soundasleep

File	Role	Description
`Html2Text on GitHub.url`	Data	Auxiliary data
`Html2Text.php`	Class	Class source
`Html2TextException.php`	Class	Class source
`LICENSE.md`	Lic.	License text
`README.md`	Doc.	Documentation